Art gallery work reveals treasures

FAVOURITE FIND: Mangere archaeologist Barry Baquie with the end of a pile from the Gore St jetty from 1860, which was recovered during the construction of the new Britomart centre.

One man's trash is another man's treasure is a saying that rings true with Mangere archaeologist Barry Baquie.

He's been overseeing the earthworks for the $113 million Auckland Art Gallery redevelopment in central Auckland and has come across what he describes as "19th century rubbish".

It includes bottles, newspapers, a cannon and pieces of ceramic, some with hand-painted artwork, that can all be dated back to the 1850s and a clock tower record book dating back to 1933.

The gallery redevelopment is due to be completed next year and involves earthquake-proofing and heritage restoration of the 1887 and 1916 parts of the building as well as expansion and modernisation to increase its display space by half again.

To make way for the expansion, contractors have had to excavate the base of Albert Park hill - something Mr Baquie watched closely in case evidence emerged of the World War Two tunnels that lie beneath Albert Park.

Albert Park is on a dormant volcanic cone filled with natural lava caves. During World War Two, the caves were excavated and more than 4km of interconnecting tunnels dug out to accommodate 20,000 people as an air raid shelter.

At the end of the war most of the network was closed with bricks and rubble and no one has found any main entrances since.

"We didn't find the tunnels but we did find a garden from when the park was Albert Barracks - which takes us even further back in time," he says.

The barracks were built in 1845 as a defence post when civil war was breaking out between Maori and Pakeha.

Mr Baquie says he'd like to see some of the artefacts on display in the new gallery.

Before starting work with the gallery, he conducted field surveys for Contact Energy, searching for pa sites and other Maori remains on proposed wind farm sites.

"Most of my work is around a developer's consent process."

Archaeology has taken him across New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the Cook Islands.

Asked what his favourite archaeological dig has been, he replies: "They're all my favourite - I can't pick one because I love what I do. But Australia does stand out with archaeological sites that are 60,000 to 70,000 years old. It twists your head a bit when you are looking at artefacts that have been around that long."

And the attraction of archaeology?

"To appreciate the present we need to understand the past. The archaeological process is the tip of the iceberg - all that's visible shows a small amount of the past yet the vast majority of our remains are destroyed forever or waiting to be excavated, explored or interpreted."

- © Fairfax NZ News